


The reason behind thunderstorms

by lisachan



Series: Tales of the Summer Palace [30]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29438892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lisachan/pseuds/lisachan
Summary: Fabian and Meridian are at their tutor Regis' house, a place they usually enjoy very much. But today is different, because there's a horrible thunderstorm outside, and everything is rain and darkness and scary rumbling sounds. It is the kids' first storm, and Regis does his best to make them feel a little better.
Relationships: Regis & Fabian & Meridian
Series: Tales of the Summer Palace [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/414045
Kudos: 1
Collections: COWT - Clash Of the Writing Titans/Chronicles Of Words and Trials, COWTverse & Polyverso





	The reason behind thunderstorms

**Author's Note:**

> OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS TRIO SO MUCH - you will see more than you want about them, and so very soon.

The weather is usually very good on Tanit – all clear skies and warm temperatures, never too much wind, always only the slightest, nicest, flower-scented breeze when you’re strolling down the hill, or the crisp, salty one you get when you take a walk down the beach, a gentle hand passing through your hair, combing it more than ruffling it – but when it chooses not to, oh, boy, weather can be vicious.

Tanit is a special place, very different than all the other Lands on the Polyverse. It has a soul, a way of thinking, it has its belief, and quite a temper, to be completely honest. It sometimes gets angry, and much like a newborn baby doesn’t have any other weapon than their cry to make their feelings understood, a Land can only use its weather to make sure its population understands there’s something wrong with it.

Which is a nice concept to explain to happy children, usually. Unless the Land is angry, and it’s using its weather to scream its fury, and the children are terrified of it.

Magic-wired communal electricity got turned off around ten minutes ago, possibly because one of the energy cores sitting in the towers of the Summer Palace got unhinged from its stand, interrupting the flow. It will take a while to the appointed mage to put the whole thing back into motion, and therefore, in the meanwhile, Regis has conjured various ephemeral candles, which are now floating around the room, pouring their warm, dim light around them, fighting the darkness of his cabin in the woods, at least a little bit.

Fabian and Meridian are all curled up underneath the wooden table in the study room. Fabian’s shaking, his knees to his chest and his arms around his head, ruffled blonde hair poking out everywhere, while his sister hugs him tight, her thin, pale arms firmly wrapped around his shoulders as she tries her best to be brave for both herself and her brother, though it’s clear in her glasslike eyes that she’s as terrified as he is.

The children usually love the woods where he lives. They love his cabin and how old and mysterious it seems, how small it looks from the outside and how many changing rooms you can find inside once you’ve been allowed to walk past the front door. But right now a storm is raging right outside, and the whole world seem to be plunged in utter, eternal darkness, and the woods don’t look quite as familiar and nice any longer, and the cabin doesn’t look curious and fascinating, only huge and borderless and scary.

“My Star,” Regis tries a small, reassuring smile as he reaches down underneath the table, stroking Meridian’s head. Her hair is too long, and the braid she’s tangled it into has become undone for the most part. She always looks a little messy, princess Meridian, but today particularly so: her fear dishevels her, because she’s not used to the feeling, which makes her completely irrational, right now. And yet, Regis knows that if he has one shot at getting the twins out of the table, he must go through her. “There’s light in the room, now. Why don’t you and your brother come out?”

Prince Fabian lets out a shaky mewl and wraps his arms around his sister’s waist, hiding his face against her chest. As a reaction to that, Meridian hugs him even tighter. “We can’t,” the young girl says, shaking her head, “Fabian’s scared.”

“But there’s nothing to be scared of,” Regis tries to explain, his smile unchanging, his eyes as warm as he can turn their gray to be, “There is a perfectly reasonable explanation to all that is happening around us, I promise. And if you come out of there, I will explain it to you.”

Fabian turns his face just a little, and through the tangle of his sister’s arms and puffy clothes and long long hair Regis can only see one of his sky-blue eyes. “What does it change if you explain those things to us…?” he asks curiously. 

Regis’ smile widens a little. He found a breech. That’s where he should pass through. “You can’t be scared of the things you know and understand, my Sky,” he says, crouching next to the table so to look at the twins directly in their eyes, “That is why we study. The more we learn about things, the less things appear mysterious to us. Things we know, we can explain. And if we can explain them, if we can see how they work, and what causes them to exist, why should we fear them? Knowing things helps us control them. Everything you can control is your friend and cannot hurt you.”

“Then I wanna control everything!” Meridian straightens her back in an imperious move, which makes her hit her head against the table on top of her with a hard thudding sound. She hunches her shoulders again, massaging the top of her head with her hand. “Owie…”

Regis chuckles, reaching out for her and holding her in his arms, pulling her up. Fabian doesn’t let go of her and keeps clinging to her skirts, which ultimately helps in dragging him out from underneath the table too. “You can’t control _everything_ , my Star,” he says patiently.

“Why not? It’d be safer. If I could control everything, everything would be my friend and nothing could ever hurt me or Fabi. So he wouldn’t need to be scared of anything else anymore.”

“Right,” Regis smiles and sits her down on the carpet in front of the library. Fabian follows her, sitting so close to her they seem conjoined, like Siamese twins. “So you’re not scared? Only your brother is?”

“Um…” she’s a brave child, but she’s also an honest child. She wouldn’t lie about being scared. “No, sometimes I am scared too,” she admits, “Like now. Now I’m scared. But I can deal.”

“That is true,” Regis smiles warmly, “I know you can.”

“And Fabi’s scared way more often than I am.”

Fabian looks down, his cheeks turning pinker, his eyes a little lucid. “I’m sorry,” he says with a tiny, tiny voice.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Regis reaches out for him and strokes his messy hair first, and his rosy cheek then. “No one expects you kids to be brave while you’re still so young. As a matter of fact, actually, fear is a very important fail-safe mechanism for children. Fear helps you recognize a dangerous situation when you’re caught in one, and it helps you remember that you have other options beside facing it at all costs: you can always run.”

“But isn’t running a thing for cowards?” Meridian frowns, her peachy lips pursed in disappointment.

“Absolutely not,” Regis shakes his head, “It is very brave, on the contrary, to recognize that you can’t win against something, and that fighting it anyway would only cause you and your loved ones harm and grief. It takes a lot of bravery because it is harder to face the shame of running away than the pain of having been beaten.”

“Does it mean…” Fabian asks uncertainly, “That running away is shameful?”

“Not at all,” Regis sits down on the carpet with them, crossing his legs and gesturing the ephemeral candles to come closer and circle them, “But shame can be hard-wired inside people’s minds when they’ve been brought up in a family of warriors. And your dads are all very valiant warriors, so it wouldn’t surprise me if a tiny bit part inside your little brains…” and he reaches out for them both, pressing his index fingers right at the center of their foreheads, making their heads bounce a little backwards and making them both laugh, “…already thought, unconsciously, that running is shameful. Even though it is not.”

“I don’t know what hard-wined means, but I think I got what you meant,” Meridian nods quickly.

It is Regis’ turn to laugh. “Hard- _wired_ , my Star. It is like an action, or a thought, that you know so well it comes automatic to you, and you keep repeating it.”

Meridian nods again. “Like the way I search for Fabi’s hand in bed when I’m about to fall asleep.”

Regis nods. “That’s exactly it. You’re hard-wired to hold your brother’s hand when you sleep.”

“Got it,” Meridian seems satisfied for a moment, but then she frowns again. “Now you have to explain the things that are happening out there, though,” she insists, “You said you would.”

“Ah, sure!” Regis grins, “I can’t trick you, can I?”

“No,” Meridian plainly admits, shaking her head.

“Right,” Regis leans in on them a little, to get a bit closer. They’re radiant, these kids. He can sense that their power is incomplete, not just because they’re young but because, somehow, magic got split between them when they were born, making them half as powerful than they should’ve been by blood right, and yet they’re still so _strong_ … Regis doesn’t struggle to imagine them, once they’ve grown up, ruling on all the Lands of the Polyverse, respected and adored like it is their royal prerogative. “Alright,” he pats his knees with both hands, “Ask away. Any question you want.”

Fabian swallows, and it is him who asks first. Meridian’s strong-willed and vocal about her education, but it is Fabian who has the true inquisitive mind between the two. “What is happening outside…?”

“Well,” Regis takes a quick look out the window. Nothing but blackness and a river of raindrops against the stained glass. “The spirit of Tanit must be angry. That’s what is at the core of any violent weather condition on this Land. It is not the same anywhere else on the Polyverse, all Lands are different and they all have different rules – there are places where bad weather only means bad weather. But here, when there’s a storm it means Tanit is angry, or troubled, or at the very least upset.”

“And why is it upset?” Fabian blinks curiously.

“Oh, I don’t know that,” Regis shakes his head.

Meridian frowns, crossing her arms on her chest. “Disappointing,” she says, and Regis can’t help but laugh again.

“Well, my Star, how can you know the reason why someone’s angry if that someone doesn’t tell you first? If I did something bad to you without noticing, and you got angry at me but refused to explain me why, I would never know.”

“That’s a silly example,” Meridian shakes her head, “You would never do something bad to me.”

“That’s true, but an example doesn’t have to be true to hold its meaning,” Regis smiles patiently. He reaches out for her and holds her around her waist, gently moving her between his legs. She lets him, and as soon as she’s settled down he undoes her braid and starts intertwining her pale blond locks from scratch. “You can’t always expect people… or animals, or spiritual things like this Land, for that matter, to be clear and exhaustive in explaining to you why they’re upset. And you can’t expect never to hurt them, willingly or otherwise, either. That would be a very dangerous way to approach a relationship of any kind. No one is ever a hundred percent unable to cause pain to someone else, even to someone they love very, very much. Whenever objects come too close, they always risk colliding against one another. And the collision can be soft, but it can also be violent, even when it’s not intended to be. And that’s how it happens that people can get hurt. You can never be sure you will never be the one who will cause the hurting.”

“So…” Fabian slides closer to them, moving on his knees, “Someone or something must have hurt Tanit… and the spirit of the Land is answering with a storm.”

“That’s probably what happened,” Regis nods, “And I’m sure right now your dad is inquiring about what might have happen to cause all this pain. That’s his role, you know? The role of the Seer of Tanit is, at its core, a healing role. Your grandmother always took, let’s say, alternative ways to get to the healing, she believes everything must pass through pain first to be fixed, but your dad has always been more straightforward about it. He senses this Land, all the Lands, really, very profoundly. He senses their pain. And he can always fix it.”

“How?” Fabian asks, his eyes big as moons, greedy for knowledge, “How does he always fix things? Is it his magic?”

“Yes,” Regis smiles tenderly at him, stroking his cheek, “Which is your magic, too. Yours and your sister’s.” He lifts Meridian up and has her sit on one of his legs, while he sits Fabian on the other, and then he hugs them both, squeezing a little. “And one day it will be your turn to listen to the Polyverse, hear its pain and heal it. But not yet. You will protect this universe, at some point. Now it’s your turn to be protected, instead.”

And that’s when a louder thunder makes all the windows of the house tremble and clink, right before a powerful lightning breaks the darkness only for a second, a gaping wound in the sky, before it all disappears and nothing is left but the distant rumbling of angry black clouds colliding.

The kids both scream, and they hide their faces against Regis’ chest, and he chuckles softly, holding them close. He taught them enough for the day.

*

When Celes shows up, a few hours later, the sky is turning a dark shade of blue and there are tiny little stars appearing and disappearing between the dark, smoky streaks of clouds slowly fading up above. It’s still raining a little, but softly. Tanit seems to feel a little better.

Regis passes him both his children, helping him settling them down on his shoulders – one each. Meridian is drooling profusely, her braid already terribly messed up again, while Fabian snores softly, suckling on his own thumb.

Celes exhales in obvious relief once he can hold them, and then he turns to look at Regis, smiling gratefully. “Thank you for taking care of them,” he says, “I hope they didn’t cause trouble.”

“They’ve been more troubling on normal school days, believe me,” he chuckles a little, leaning against the doorframe. “They were too scared to cause the usual mayhem.”

“Poor babies,” Celes laughs, squeezing them close to himself for a second, “This was their first thunderstorm.”

“Right. What caused it?”

“There’s some trouble on Arcanith,” he huffs a little, “A temple got destroyed and it resulted in a magic imbalance that the crystal picked up and amplified. Hence the hurricane.”

“Oh,” Regis blinks, straightening himself up, “Do you need me to—”

“Oh, no,” Celes smiles again, shaking his head, “I already sent the others. They will be more than enough. Besides, I prefer you here with the kids. I trust them with you.”

Regis smiles – it always warms his heart whenever Celes shows this side of himself to him. The fragile side he only allows a handful of people to ever glimpse. “Of course. You know I love to take care of them. I’ve been taking advantage of the extra time for some extracurricular teaching. They’re very gifted,” his smile gets warmer, “And they’re brave. They’re all you.”

Celes chuckles, amused. “Absolutely not, I am the opposite of brave.” He smiles wider. “I was about to leave the Summer Palace turn to dust to come get them as soon as the thunderstorm got worse. Their dads were brave. They kept me there, fighting, doing my job, until it was done.” He smiles softly again, looking down at the sleeping children. “They’re all them, really. And I’m glad they are.”

Regis chooses not to contradict him, even though, despite seeing and acknowledging Shannen and Langley’s valor, he doesn’t agree that they’re braver than Celes himself is. “Well,” he says, “It doesn’t matter who they’re like, really. What matters is that they are incredible. And you all should be proud of them.”

“Oh, we are,” Celes grins, “Don’t doubt that for a moment. We are.”

Regis chuckles and then looks at the sky, turning a little paler now that all the clouds have disappeared. There’s no rain nor rage in the air, and the woods are starting to play their chirping and rustling symphony again. “Can I expect them to be here tomorrow for their regular classes, or do you want some time with them?” he asks.

Celes chuckles. “You read my mind,” he admits, “I’m keeping them with us, tomorrow. We need some family quality time.”

“Understood.”

“But you can join us in the afternoon,” Celes smiles softly, “As a matter of fact, Regis, I know the children would be delighted about it. And so would I.”

Regis curls just one corner of his lips in a little smirk, and then bows his head lightly, his arms wide by the sides of his body. “As your majesty commands,” he says.

Celes’ chuckle echoes through the forest as he walks away.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for the second week of COWT #11 @ landedifandom.net  
> Prompt: M3, rain/darkness


End file.
